Journal-box allot



UNITE STATES FQE.

BENJAMIN F. LAWTON, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

JOURNAL-BOX ALLOY.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. LAW- TON, M. D., of the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful alloy for making boxes, journals, and other bearingsurfaces of machinery which possesses pecul iar advantages, for while it lessens the friction and tendency to abrasion of the rubbing-surfaces in a degree as great, if not greater, than the soft metals of the class to which the Babbitt metal belongs, it possesses the rigidity and hardness of brass or bronze and does not require the supportingframe of hard metal which is indispensable to the use of the soft-metal bearings.

My improved alloy consists of wrought iron, copper, tin, and arsenic combined in various proportions according to the degree of hardness, toughness, or other quality it is desired, to make it a superior alloy or box metal for either of the above named purposes.

In preparing the alloy, I employ the common wrought iron, or old scraps, or small pieces that may be easily procured at the junk shops, but I prefer the turnings or .pla-nings which are made when finishing large parts of iron machinery. The copper I employ is that which is usually sold in market in pigs or bars, or when agood article of old copper can be procured I use that. The tin that I use is the common commercial tin, which is sufliciently pure for ordinary purposes, but when an extra alloy or box-metal is wanted then care should be taken to obtain the purest metals. I use the metallic arsenic when it can be obtained but the oxid will answer very well. This alloy or box metal, I in general compose of a mixture oxid of arsenic two parts or its equivalent in metallic arsenic, tin 8 parts, iron 5 parts and copper 15 parts which is equivalent, in percentage, oxid of arsenic 8 parts or its equivalent when reduced to metallic arsenic, iron 20 parts, tin 12 parts and copper parts, or in such other proportions of the same metal, as will insure a soft, tough and strong alloy, with a fine grain or when necessary rather hard, suitable for sundry bearing surfaces in machinery, where smooth surfaces and strength of box-metal is required. Thus an alley or box-metal may be carefully prepared superior to the ordinary metals 1n common use for slmllar purposes.

As the wrought iron requires very intense heat tomelt it, the time necessary to make the above alloy will vary according to the different methods chosen for its preparation. \Vith proper care the losses of all the metals used will not exceed two per cent.

The cost of making said alloy will depend very much upon the management and the arrangement of the metals, whet-her fused separately in a reverberatory furnace on different hearths or all in one pot or crucible and in the proportions of each metal used in forming said alloy and with the care taken while the molecules of each molten metal are undergoing the melting commingling and combining operations.

Cast steel and malleable iron may be substituted for wrought iron, the very small amount of carbon which they contain, forming no particular objection for similar purposes.

For greater convenience and economy in preparing this alloy, I prefer to employ a reverberatory furnace of peculiar construction, which I shall presently describe, al though it may be prepared by means of crucibles or of common reverberatory or wind furnaces. The furnace whichIrecommend for preparing the alloy is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an isometrical representation of the exterior of the furnace; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the same; Fig. 3, ahorizontal section above the hearths, and Fig. 4 a hollow'rod for stirring volatile metals among molten metals which are more fixed.

This furnace may have as many hearths as there are metals to be melted and mixed to form the alloy, but in the present example I have shown three inclined or melting hearths and three receiving hearths, in which the metals are melted, then all drawn into one receptacle and mixed while in the molten state.

A represents the fire grates for the melting hearths, and lower or last receiving hearth. The three fire bridges separate each of the inclined hearths and the receiving ponds or hearths.

K K K are the inclined hearths on which the metal to be melted is laid, together with the proper fluxes.

F F F are the concave receptacles or ponds of the inclined or melting hearths into which the molten metal runs.

Over each of the inclined or melting hearths and concave receptacles there is a hanging bridge projecting downward into each from'the roof of the furnace to compel the heat and the flames to descend to the lower part of each melting hearth or receptacle in order to elevate and maintain the molten meta-ls contained therein at a proper temperature.

N is the lower or last receiving hearth into which the molten alloy may be drawn when finished, whence it may be ladled out and used for the various purposes to which it is adapted.

It is obvious that the temperature of the several melting hearths will be lower as they are remote from the furnace. Therefore, those metals which are the most difficult of fusion must be placed on the meltinghearth nearest the fire grate and those which are more fusible and liable to volatilize should be placed on the melting hearth most remote from the fire grate.

The metal on the melting hearths and also that in the troughs or ponds which receive the molten metal which flows from the hearth should be admixed with fluxes to facilitate their fusion and to protect them against the oxidizing action of any undecomposed air that passes from the grate to the flame. The fluxes may be those in common use for similar metallurgic purposes, such pulverized glass, oyster shells, fluor spar, limestone, clay, potash or other alkali, also sand and granular mineral coal or charcoal will be found useful to protect the melted metals and particularly to assist in the reduction of the oxids.

The iron should be broken into small pieces and laid upon the first hearth in small charges well protected by fluxes.

' When it melts it will run into the first trough or pond, where it can remain until other charges are melted and collected with it. The copper is placed on the second hearth and treated in like manner. The tin may be placed in the first or third pond or trough, always taking care to cover them with fluxes to prevent evaporation or oxidation. When the requisite quantities of the molten metals have been accumulated in the several ponds or troughs, the third pond is tapped and the molten tin allowed to run from it through a channel (H) into the first pond, which is lower than either the second or third. The iron here mixes with the tin. The second pond is next tapped and the molten copper which it contains allowed to) run through the channel (H) into the first trough to mingle with the other metals. The molten metal in the first pond may now be well stirred, so as to mix the several kinds thoroughly together, and then it is ready for the introduction of the metallic or oxid of arsenic, and as this metal is poisonous and highly volatile sundry precautions are necessary to avoid injury from its fumes when melted. The arsenic is charged into the end of the hollow rod shown in Fig. 4, which rod has numerous holes or perforations to allow arsenical vapors or metal to pass out. The upper end of the rod is stopped. The doors of the furnace must be carefully closed to prevent the escape of the fumes and the draft of the chimney stimulated by opening its damper, so as to allow the utmost freedom for the vapors to pass up. The rod is now carefully introduced through a hole provided for the purpose in the door openingv into the division of the furnace containing the first pond, and the lower end of the rod plunged into the molten metal in the pond and stirred well therein. heat of the molten metal will volatilize or melt the arsenic within the tubular stirrer, and the vapors or metal will escape in small streams into the molten metal when about one fifth part of the oxid and a large portion of the metallic will combine with the molten metal, and the rest will be absorbed with the different fluxes or rise from the surface of the pond and pass off up the chimney. WVhen the whole of the arsenic has been in this way disposed of, the alloy is finished and may be run 0E into the receiving hearth (N) whence it may be ladled out or run into molds of the proper shape to make a journal-box or other bearing or rubbing part of machinery. The box or bearing thus formed may be turned, bored, planed or otherwise polished and finished, so as to render its acting surface smooth. The surface thus smoothed seems to the touch to be greasy and is exceedingly smooth, while at the same time it is hard and strong and possesses peculiar and highly Valuable properties as an anti-friction metal.

Therefore I claim The aforesaid alloy or box-metal as a new material for the purpose of forming boxes, journals, axles, and all other rubbing surfaces of the moving parts of machinery.

BENJAMIN F. LAWTON.

Witnesses:

ARoHrBALD BULL, JOHN T. LAMPORT. 

